Emmy-Winner Daniel J. Travanti in New Drama, False Solution

Daniel J. Travanti, a dual Emmy winner for Hill Street Blues, stars in this new drama about a famous German-Jewish architect, whose increasingly complex relationship with a bright young intern, played by Amanda Saunders, threatens to bring his work on a new Holocaust museum crashing down. Written and directed by Oren Safdie, who holds a master's in architecture from Columbia University and whose father is award-winning Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie, False Solution is the third in a series of plays set in the world of contemporary building design. His latest thought-provoking entry explores the characters' mutual attraction, as well as their generational and creative conflicts, as they strive to complete their meaningful project.

It was difficult to get the 'meaning.' The dialogue had more to it than mere words and it was difficult to grasp all the metaphors that were going on. While we were trying to digest what was said, they were already on the next lines. Even, on the...continued

The play felt like it was trying too hard to sound smart. The writer would throw a lot of philosophical-sounding lines delivered at a rapid pace, giving off the impression that this is a "smart" play - it really wasn't.

Website

Quotes & Highlights

“This intellectually stimulating play will leave your head spinning. Safdie has written two very human characters, both with high ideals and real flaws … On top of that, he’s given us an awful lot to think about when we leave the theater.” —Theatermania

“Inspired and astonishing, Safdie’s verbal dexterity alone is mesmerizing.” —The New York Times

“Implausible as it may sound, Mr. Safdie does the impossible: He writes unpretentiously witty plays of ideas about some of the most pretentious ideas known to man. Instead of telling you what to think, he leaves the thinking to you, and in between the laughs you’ll do plenty of it" —Wall Street Journal

“[Safdie’s] heady interplay of ideas about art, function, privilege and humanity in design is endlessly fascinating and exquisitely funny." — San Francisco Chronicle

“Elvis Costello once said, ‘Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.’ Fortunately, writing about architecture turns out to be a much smarter thing to do, particularly if the writer is as talented as Oren Safdie.” — Boston Globe

“Are you ready for an evening of intellectually stimulating theater? Check out the West Coast premier of False Solution … While the performance is 75 minutes, the time goes by extremely fast. The dialogue propels the performance and even though there are only two cast members, the action on stage is almost like watching a tennis match, fully engaging the audience. Ms. Saunders captivates the audience in her dynamic interaction with the venerable Travanti. Not to be outdone, Golden Globe and two-time Emmy® winner Daniel J. Travanti (best known for his television role of Captain Frank Furillo on Hill Street Blues), plays the mentor role naturally, and his interactions with Saunders on the stage are fantastic.”—Life In LA